5 Best Electric Guitar Amp 2021 [updated review]

It is one thing to play an electric guitar, but playing an amp is something just as important. We help you choose your Best Electric Guitar Amp 2021, simply dedicated to inspiring electric guitar players. 

An amp is a combination of the preamp, power amp, and speaker. Choosing an amp made for your specific guitar style is more important than you may think. Your amp determines the sound and tone that your guitar produces and can bring the best or worst out depending on which amp you use. Generally, electric guitars release electric guitar signals providing more gain for distortion, volume, and effects for diverse sounds and slightly coloring the tone at the same time. 

For beginners, we specifically recommend Combo amps which come as a pack with all you need, combining speakers with the amplifier & power amplifier. 

Let’s go through some best options available in the market for all kinds of electric guitar players.

The line up at a glance

We’ve done in-depth loads of researches through many various products and chosen 5 different models to compare. Have a look through all our pros and cons for each one to find your Best Electric Guitar Amp

Our Picks For Top 5 Best Electric Guitar Amp 2021

Verdict

Perfect for beginners and students. This amp can get proper loud, we are speaking about 100 watts, and yes, sounds clean at the same time. You may notice that the sound quite replicates a tube amp’s harmonic sound as well. Changes between 5 watts, 50 watts, and 100 watts are extremely smooth and simple. Just that the buyers do not recommend to use this amp at 100 watts, the solid-state quality will result in degraded sounds at a higher volume. 

As an advantage, this also has a volume switch at the back that allows you to have a paired amp. Unquestionably, the Katana-100 is an excellent choice for beginners, allowing you to experiment with your sound without costing you so much. 

And, what makes it better is that this also supports any acoustics. Virtue..!

Detail Reviews

3 x 3 x 3 inches in size and weighs 1 pound. 

Katana-100 is a 100-watt electric guitar amplifier with a custom 12-inch speaker. Its technology lets you feel a sense of control over your volume, so you could use this both at home or when gigging leaving no worries. Talking about the versatility, the onboard power attenuation is really good, according to the buyers. 

Controls – Gain, Volume, Bass, Middle and Treble

Effects Section: Booster/Mod, Delay/FX, Tap, Reverb, Presence, and  Master

Power – 100 watts & Speaker – 12-inch

The 4 channels and 5 amp voicing cover a large range of tones and are quite responsive. Can also be used with acoustic & acoustic-electric guitars. This will also give you access to hundreds of BOSS effects which can be customized using the free BOSS Tone Studio editor software. Adding to the excitement, this amp comes with tone settings that can save your favorite effects, saving you from the trouble of forgetting them. Featured with built-in effects such as distortion and reverb and the FX loop is switchable. 

Yet again, this is a solid-state amplifier, which means the sound quality will degrade as the volume increases. We recommend you to let your PA/AV system raise your volume to match your band.

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Verdict

This high-end tube amp brings out one of the warmest and clean tones. Legends such as The Beatles and Brian May have been using Vox AC amps confidently and are best for studio and gigging. Superb for rock, pop & blues, and the built-in tremolo and reverb sounds make it perfect for rockers. Although it takes just 15 watts of speaker power, the sound is extremely loud without a doubt. 

It is super versatile. It sounds great, clean, and takes on pedals excellently.

Detail Reviews

This 56.06 pounds tube amp offers simple but effective Gain, Bass, Treble, Reverb, and Master Volume controls. Come with EL84 power tubes and 12AX7 preamp tubes, and a custom 10″ VX10 speaker made by Celestion. 

Extension and External speaker outputs; By-passable Effect Loop, Distinctive VOX Styling. Output Power: 10W RMS 

Vox 2 amp comes in vintage interior and has both normal & top boost channels. As an added feature, the players can use both channels at the same time enjoying a bassier sound which is foot-switchable. Yes, you read it! You need a pedal to switch between the channels. 

Portability is a catch as this amp weighs over a whopping 56 pounds. The price is a little high as well, boasting the brand and its effects, yet this is “Vox”,your every penny will be worth it.

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Verdict

15 watt Fender Blues Junior is not one big fat amp, but is enough to get your job done. You will appreciate its simplicity and will love the fact that you could play all styles you want with this amp. It’s small and lightweight. With its impressive new speakers and modified preamp, you get yourself a highly portable gig lover at a Fender price.

Detail Reviews

This single-channel amp comes with a Celestion 12” A type speaker. This Fender amp is portable, fuss-free, and provides great tube tones at low volume. The pedalboard is compatible. Warmer tone and the changeover from distorted to more distorted is smooth. The diversity of the tone and style is great. The speakers are pretty loud too and ideal for outdoor group gigging, beginner startup, or home/studio practice. 

Well built, simple interior, delivers perfect cleans and drives, and its modified preamp circuit increases fullness while the spring reverb modification has improved smoothness. It includes a 1-button footswitch for a fat Mid boost. The fat switch is an act of modest genius widening the frequencies and adding a gut to your single-coil tone. But due to its size, it breaks up rather easily, which can be a down point. 

Blues-rock nirvana through Fender Blues Jr amp, but at a price of course!

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Verdict

20/5 Watt Marshall studio classic amp holds an incredible tank shaped build. Single channeled and best for heavy metal as these beats can get truly loud. The brightest sounding amp you may ever encounter. Simple and old school type, best to play with any loud drummers.

The price could be quite high for some compared to all other reasonable prices that you can buy somewhat the same features for, yet it’s a Marshall and you can’t get that brand quality from elsewhere.

Detail Reviews

At just 16.5cm (6.5 inches) wide and weighing in at just 0.85kg (1.87lb), with its volume and gain controller working hard, this small amplifier can get eardrum-breaking loud. 20 watts into four ohms, solid-state Class D power amp. In its full-frequency mode, we can tap into the SV20H’s potential, and with both channels engaged you get a loud but balanced sound. Also,20 Watts with power reduction to 5 watts is good control over your volume.

Dimensions: 20 x 12 x 12 inches & Weight: 25 pounds

Controls: Preamp and Master Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, and Presence

Quite player-friendly, features including a master volume, 3-band EQ with Presence control, preamp volume, effects loop, and DI output. No reverb, no foot-switchable extra channels, old school simplicity. The weight is quite manageable compared to some other super heavy amps. 

The price indeed is quite high.

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Verdict

As I Heart Guitar translates it to words,” There are many players who would dig this amp. Country spank, bluesy grit, rock crunch, shred scream and even fusion tactility are all in here”.

It’s definite that HT Club 40 is a gig-ready, versatile tube amp that competes with many powerful amplifiers in the market. 

Although some features this amp comes with maybe too much for some players but once you are already in the game you will value every one of those options for the affordable price you buy it for.

Detail Reviews

This 53.8 lb Blackstar club amplifier is solid, reliable and comes with great features. Two independent channels such as multivoiced gain and an innovative tone stack produce massive and punchier tones. Playing with a loud drummer in gigs is not going to be awkward or take the spotlight away from you anymore having this companion performing alongside you. 

40 watts and powered by two EL34 power tubes & two ECC83 preamp tubes. One 12” Celestion Speaker cuts through any in a full band situation. Clean and overdrive channels (Gain, Volume, and Voice) are foot-switchable. Equipped with “modern voicing” technology and ISF control works in conjunction with the Bass, Middle and Treble control.

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Criteria used for evaluation

Size

If you are a beginner a small practice amp would be ideal. Or the same applies if you are a traveler. But as you need to upgrade your amp, you always need to consider where you play. Home, small gig, and practice players would fancy an amp that is portable, gives the desired quality of sound and comes with a well controllable volume. 

Some electric guitar amps are gigantic and heavy as much as 50 pounds and above, whereas some other amps are 1 to 2 pounds only. But what matters the most is features. No matter how heavy or light your electric guitar amp is, if it doesn’t bring out the best sounds, that could fail you and you may need a change.

Wattage

Speakers and guitar amp wattage are equally important and should be configured as required. Most pro amps are 30 to 100 watts. The loudness doesn’t double up just as you increase to 100 watts, wattage basically means power. Your amplifier’s wattage will establish its headroom. And that determines the volume when the amp starts distorting the guitar’s sound.

Speaker configuration

Two factors to take into consideration are the wattage of the amp and impedance. Generally, most popular speaker configurations include one 10 or 12-inch speaker, two 10 or 12-inch speakers, and four 10 or 12-inch speakers. For usual gigs one 12 inch or two 12 inch speakers are quite enough. And most probably your amp gets connected to a PA system anyway. 

10-inch speaker models are great for vintage-inspired tones and small combos whereas, the best for larger heavy metal and rock tones is 12 inches.

Type

Tube/Valve amps: Most common.. Impressive response and tone and used by most professional players. Harmonic sound. More expensive and you may have to change tubes occasionally.

Solid-state amps: A lot cheaper and lighter, and less delicate being more reliable than valve amplifiers. The tone is not as advanced as valve amps, yet best for beginners and intermediate players. 

Hybrid amps: Generally, they would use a valve preamp with a solid-state power amplifier. Much reliable. It’s in between practice level and high-end amps. 

Digital amps: Uses digital technology and everything about this amp is down to software. Theoretically, you can upgrade and improve the models over years without ever having to buy a new hardware unit,which makes these super-pricey.

Format

Combo amp: All-in-one unit that has the amplifier and speakers together in one enclosure. 

Stack amp: Divides and separates the amplifier and speaker cabinet. The amplifier is called an “amp head” and the speaker cabinet as “cabinet”.

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Frequently Asked Questions